prison
Americannoun
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prisons
plural
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a building for the confinement of persons held while awaiting trial, persons sentenced after conviction, etc.
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any place of confinement or involuntary restraint.
noun
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a public building used to house convicted criminals and accused persons remanded in custody and awaiting trial See also jail penitentiary reformatory
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any place of confinement or seeming confinement
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of prison
before 1150; Middle English prison, earlier prisun < Old French, variant of preson imprisonment, a prison < Latin pre ( hē ) nsiōn- (stem of prehēnsiō ) a seizure, arrest, equivalent to prehēns ( us ) (past participle of prehendere to seize) + -iōn- -ion; doublet of prehension
Explanation
A prison is a place where criminals and people waiting for trials are locked up. If you’ve been cooped up in the house, you might feel like you’re stuck inside prison walls. But if you’re not, go outside already. A person who's been sentenced to time in prison is called a prisoner. Prisons vary, but usually prisoners are confined to a small cell, with time spent in large groups for eating, working, and exercise. If you feel like you're stuck in a place or a situation, you might call that prison: "I can't wait to go home — this summer camp is like a prison!" The Latin root is prension, "laying hold of."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
"They were married but in absentia. There has been a legal act but it did not happen inside the prison in the presence of the two individuals," she added.
From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026
Year: 2022 Compiled by: Shirin Ali Of note: Santos would later be expelled from Congress, sentenced to prison, and pardoned by President Donald Trump.
From Slate ● Oct. 7, 2026
The Ministry of Justice said it did not "recognise these claims about our hardworking prison staff".
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
There is not a word about those arrested, executed or imprisoned in the gulag, the Soviet Union's vast network of prison labour camps.
From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026
Later, in prison, he expressed his regret at Sophie’s death.
From "The War to End All Wars: World War I" by Russell Freedman
The news outlet also reviewed footage obtained from inside the correctional facility which showed Combs using a phone, a prohibited item across state and federal prisons.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026
Meanwhile, the Prison Governors' Association said "long-term investment" was needed and warned a "staffing crisis" would pose challenges to delivering new prisons.
From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026
Quite simply, prisons are almost full - and not for the first time.
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026
It was punctuated by an automatic voice saying the caller was a prisoner, which is usual practice for calls from Iranian prisons.
From Barron's ● Sep. 30, 2026
Far from fading away, it appears that prisons are here to stay.
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
